[libranof1987]

With the monsoon showing up in its full glory in Maharashtra, all the hills in the Sahyadri range are flush with abundant greenery and sprinkled with plenty of waterfalls. No better time to head out and play in the mud!

Jeep recently organised a trail drive + meet in Karjat for Jeep owners. The meet had members of Jeep Western Wanderers, a Jeep owners' group active in Pune and Mumbai. There were about 30 cars at the meet, ranging from Compass (both FWD and 4x4), Meridian and a Rubicon TD vehicle from Landmark Jeep, Mumbai. The plan was to meet up at a resort in Karjat in the morning, mingle over breakfast and then head out for a trail in the Karjat - Matheran region.

Jeep sent over a Compass for the event:


All of us gathered around 8 am, lining up on the driveways of the resort:






We then headed to a trail on the hills behind the resort.

The convoy of Jeeps:










A photoshoot atop a hillock with Matheran in the background:






Then proceeded further:




The trail had a very generous amount of slush and rocks and while the FWD Compass and Meridians made it as well, it was effortless for the 4x4 cars, as if they were on their natural playground. On one particular patch with thick mud, a 2WD Compass got stuck, but it was promptly bailed out by the Rubicon.

Having support staff (a couple of technicians and advisors) from Landmark Jeep along with common spares and parts for basic repairs was reassuring. As was the enthusiasm of seasoned members who have been going on these trails routinely:


Trudging further:




We then went over to a government school for a CSR activity, which included giving school stationery and snacks to the school children.

This was followed by an elaborate photoshoot:




Given the heavy rainfall and extreme mud that followed, the plan to drive to a nearby waterfall was deemed risky and we retreated back to the resort for lunch.

Several people from Jeep Western Wanderers had then planned to stay the night at the resort. This concluded a lovely weekend out enjoying the monsoon, the Jeeps' off-roading capability and the camaraderie among owners.

Event done, it was time to head back, soaking in lovely views.







Note: Jeep invited Team-BHP for the Trail Drive. They covered all the travel expenses for this event.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[anjan_c2007]

A great offroading there with stretches that are dirt tracks or rather mud tracks in this season.

Glad to see that the Jeep brand is trying to rejuvenate its interest in the Indian market. Their sales downswing was the maximum, suffered by any car maker as in July 2023, on a YoY basis as reported on teambhp. Salewise, they had sold 1150 units in July 2022. The July 2023 sales were just 441. They have a (whopping?) 0.13 % of our car market, saleswise with Citreon (also from Stellantis) to give Jeep company with a 0.11% of the pie.

The point is they have a great, small portfolio of their model range. But the marketing with proper buyer connect is very dismal. It is not unusual or a new phenomenon with Western car makers who did not do well here in India.

[Atul Kolekar]

A great initiative on part of Jeep indeed. As a owner of AWD Duster, I waitied forever for Renault to organise something similar following Gangs of Duster intiative. There were a few events but Renault seems to have killed Duster with its lack of support on all fronts.

Also, I understnd that the location and other details of such trails are not shared in this post but is there any reasonable way to access such information anywhere else?

[Axe77]

Lovely crisp report Libran. Would have loved to be there as well but unfortunately had long standing conflicting plans for that weekend.

The Jeep owners are a tight knit bunch with plenty of camaraderie amongst them indeed. Always ready to help each other out with any issues that owners may face. A couple of them in particular are really well networked within the Jeep franchise and go out of their way to help out other owners whenever necessary.

Its also great that Jeep regularly encourages such trail events and outings. Makes for great events to test the abilities of these 4x4 steeds and also of course foster the Jeep owners community as a whole. Hopefully I’ll manage to make it to one of these soon.

[Rhinox~Cnu]

Excellent! Jeep always encourages its customers by organizing such awesome trails.

Congratulations to all the participants and Jeep owners, hope you all enjoyed a lot and got thrilled in the monsoon drive.

Jeep Compass diesel - my favourite car. Even today, I feel some spark in my eyes whenever Compass found on roads, leaving bit pain in heart for not owning it. As a typical Indian middle class, got settled with Nexon Kazi diesel, due to Jeep’s extreme pricing and maintenance costs.

[sameerpb]

Thank You @libranof1987 for a nice report. You have articulated trail details very well.
Talking about Jeep western wanderers 600+ Jeepers are panning across Maharashtra, Goa and Gujrat.

As a group, JWW tries to solve Jeep-related issues with Jeep dealerships and they also provide us with good support specifically in Mumbai, Satara and Kolhapur.
Also as a community, we do CSR activities this time we visited a local school and supported them with stationery kits, tiffin boxes and snack packets. In the past, we have contributed to the school to build a Laboratory and various other initiatives.
In the true sense, we share a Jeep Brotherhood.

Similar jeep groups are across India we have Bangalore Jeep Club, God's own Jeepers, Delhi NCR jeepers and North India Jeepers and there are 2500+ Jeepers connected across India.

Mod note: This is a very poorly typed post with many grammatical mistakes.
Please take time to check all these before you post anything again.

[GP19]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Jeep recently organised a trail drive + meet in Karjat for Jeep owners.

Hi, Can you share the location of this trail ? Thanks.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by Atul Kolekar

Also, I understnd that the location and other details of such trails are not shared in this post but is there any reasonable way to access such information anywhere else?

Originally Posted by GP19

Hi, Can you share the location of this trail ? Thanks.

Find your way to this particular point, and then go on further until the Jilla Parishad school.

I'll let Sameer confirm, but I'm fairly certain that's the route. Watch out for slush if it has rained, plenty points where one could get stuck.

[GP19]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

I'm fairly certain that's the route. Watch out for slush if it has rained, plenty points where one could get stuck.

Thanks for the route and the heads up. I’m planning to take my Jimny there. I was in search of different trails around Mumbai.